CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - The Coe College baseball team split the opening two games of a four-game conference series with Central College on Saturday. The Kohawks eked out a 2-1 win in the first game while the Dutch picked up a walk-off victory, 5-4, in game two. Coe moves to 5-2 overall and 1-1 in the American Rivers Conference while Central goes to 3-3 and 1-1 in the league.
Game one starting pitcher
TJ Johnson was excellent for the Kohawks, working a complete game while surrendering just five hits. After seeing the Dutch tie the score in the fifth inning off of a long-ball, Johnson bounced back and earned his third win of the season. His ERA drops to 1.89 on the season in 19.0 innings of work. Offensively, Coe produced 15 total hits and three extra-base hits across two games as
Jordan Kaplan recorded a double in both.
Isaac Evans piled up three hits in the games, adding two runs scored and one walk.
TJ Deardorff also picked up three hits and scored one run in the double-header.
GAME 1
COE 2- CENTRAL 1 - 8 Innings
The Kohawks struck first in the opening game of the series, putting one run on the board in the first inning.
Creighton Kreshel was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, driving in
Riley LeGrand to give Coe the early advantage. Johnson tossed a gem, working all eight innings while allowing just five hits. Johnson struck out six batters while scattering the five hits. He also allowed just one run while walking three.
Central finally got on the board in the bottom half of the sixth inning thanks to a home run off the bat of Jon Rozeboom to tie the game at one. Neither team scored in the seventh inning, sending the game into extras but the Kohawks got an RBI sacrifice fly from LeGrand in the top of the eighth to regain the lead. Johnson came back to the mound in the bottom of the frame and worked a 1-2-3 inning, producing one fly-out and two ground-outs.
GAME 2
CENTRAL 5 - COE 4
Coe again got off to a good start in the second game, pushing two runs across in the first three innings. Kaplan put Coe on the board in the first inning with an RBI and then made it two in the game with an RBI double, scoring LeGrand in the third inning. The Dutch got one back in the fourth, after a lead-off double and a Kohawk error but starting pitcher
Tyce Johnson worked around the jam to limit the damage to one run. After a scoreless top of the fifth, Central struck again, plating two runs in the bottom of the frame. The Dutch picked up two hits in their half, including an RBI single from Jared Kampf which gave Central a 3-2 lead after five.
Central then added to its lead in the bottom of the sixth with a sacrifice bunt which scored a run and gave it a 4-2 lead with an inning to play. The Kohawks were down to their final three outs but showed no panic, putting two runners on with just one out. LeGrand then stepped up and delivered a single to left-center, scoring Evans and cutting the deficit to just one. Kaplan followed suit with a game-tying, RBI double down the left-field line to knot the score at 4 and force the Dutch to hit. Central answered back in the bottom of the seventh inning to win the game, taking advantage of a leadoff walk issued by the Kohawks. The Dutch turned to small ball and successfully advanced the runner to third after a wild pitch. Lucas Farren then came around to score on another wild pitch from Coe as he represented the winning run for the Dutch.
Up next: Coe will finish the four-game series with the Dutch tomorrow afternoon with a two-game split at 1 p.m.
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